"The man at the Support Lab had me strip out of my uniform so the machine could take my measurements," Cody said. He was back at his dorm, lying on the couch as he was talking to Scott on the phone. "The scan didn't take long. It felt like it only took a minute in there, maybe a little longer."
"Did you feel uncomfortable when you removed your uniform?" Scott asked.
"Was I supposed to feel uncomfortable?"
"Usually, people tend to feel that way whenever they have to remove their clothes so something like that scan could be done," Scott explained. "Remember your check-up?"
"Yeah. What of it?" Cody asked, raising an eyebrow.
"At your check-up, you had to remove your clothes to wear the gown that the doctor provided for you. Looking back at it, you didn't look uncomfortable at all."
"Oh! I guess I wasn't..." Suddenly, Cody heard the door open and looked up to find Milo walking into the dorm.
"Is everything alright, Cody?" Scott asked with slight worry. "You paused for a bit."
"Oh, yeah! I'm okay. Milo just came back. Nothing to worry about."
"Okay. I was checking on you." Scott paused for a second as Cody heard someone else's voice on the voice. However, their words were inaudible. "Okay, I'll be there."
"Scott?" The dark-haired boy raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, bud, I have to go. A helicopter spotted an aquatic Eldritch approaching the waterfront."
"Oh, okay. I'll talk to you soon," Cody said with a nod.
"You, too. Goodnight, Cody." With that, Scott hung up.
"Was that Scott again?" Milo asked, watching as his friend sat up to look at him.
"Yeah," Cody replied. "I was just telling him how it went at the Support Lab. Also, you took a while to get back here. What happened?"
"Oh, I had a check-up at the Morningstar DEA Agency."
"A check-up? What for?"
"Uh..." Milo trailed off as he scratched his nape. "I'd rather not say, to be honest."
"Oh, that's okay. I'll wait until you're ready to tell me."
"Thank you." Milo approached the couch so he could sit on the other end. "So, you good?"
"I'm okay," Cody said with a shrug. Though, he didn't give the other boy eye contact.
With a deadpan face, Milo sighed and replied, "Look, about what you told me last week, I just want you to know that your friend's death wasn't your fault."
Still, Cody didn't look at him.
"I didn't even know the guy, I know, but one of these days, you have to stop blaming yourself. There will be times when those people go away in our lives, and there's nothing we can do about it."
As he listened, Cody scrunched his face. Last week, after training with Evan, Cody told Milo that he felt that Real Cody's death was his fault. With a face of sadness, he told his friend that he wished he was there with his late friend, and by doing that, he would have prevented the Scissor Eldritch from killing him. Cody even said that he wished it was him who died instead of Real Cody. Of course, this made Milo mad but not too angry to the point where he screamed at him. So, he responded, "If you died that day, your friend would be just as devastated as you right now. The same goes for the orphans, Mrs. Finch, and everyone who knew you. Also, you and I would never meet at all."
What Milo said then made Cody's eyes glossy with tears that threatened to spill out of his eyes. But deep down, he felt horrible over the lie he told his best friend as of now. Even now, Cody resented himself, even if Milo and everyone he met so far believed in what he said. Squeezing his eyes shut and taking a deep breath, he tilted himself to the right until his head rested on the other boy's lap. Though Milo was surprised, he sighed and placed his left hand on Cody's head, letting his fingers move in his hair. The dark-haired boy let out a satisfied sigh at the feeling of it.
Hitching his breath, Milo smiled at his friend and asked, "Whoa! You like this?"
Looking up at the purple-haired boy, Cody replied, "My friend used to do this whenever I got stressed. Please don't stop."
"Okay, I'll keep going," Milo chuckled.
As Cody felt the other boy's fingers wiggle through his hair, he smiled as a tear fell out of his eye. After all, when he was still a Raven Eldritch, Real Cody would move his hands through his neck feathers to comfort him.
~~~~~
Cody was surprised that training to be a Slayer came with a field trip. However, he figured that the trip was reserved for freshmen only. In three to four buses, the freshmen were taken to separate places in the city. Cody and his classmates from Class 1-4 were taken to one of the tallest structures in Morningstar City: Hawk Tower. There, they all stood at the top, with six telescopes perched on the railing like birds. Supervising the students was Emma Chandler as well as their teacher, Mr. Kim.
"Uh, excuse me," Autumn said, raising her hand and getting the adults' attention. "Can you please remind us why we're on Hawk Tower?"
"Well, since all of you joined a squad, we wanted to show you how they get it done," Emma answered.
"What do you mean by that?" Cody asked, turning to look at the fiery-haired Slayer as his body leaned against the railing.
"Once a year, we show freshmen how the squads they chose work together to defend Morningstar City from an Eldritch," she explained. "We do this to showcase what kind of people they are on the battlefield, how they interact with one another, and how they get the job done."
"Okay. And how are we supposed to know which one is our squad?" Autumn asked, raising an eyebrow.
"And how do we know when an Eldritch is coming to attack the city?" Magnette added.
Before Emma could answer both of their questions, Nigel jumped up and shouted, "I heard something!" With that, everyone turned to look at him.
"What did you hear?" Milo asked.
"I-I heard a rumbling sound from below," Nigel answered before he pointed downward. "Right at the parking lot next to the tower!"
"What?" Emma marched to Nigel's area and looked down as soon as she was near the railing. With furrowed eyebrows and squinted red eyes, she examined the parking lot, moving her eyes from side to side in search of irregularities. Yet, nothing happened.
Looking down beside her, the pink-haired boy whimpered, "I swear, I heard something. I-"
Emma shushed him as she kept looking down at the parking lot. Then, she turned around at the other students and said, "Where's Thomas? I need him over here."
"Oh! Coming!" Replied the bowl-haired boy of Class 1-4, now known as Thomas. He quickly made his way to the fiery-haired woman's area. Once he made it, he asked, "What's up?"
"Your ability allows you to see far distances, right?" Emma asked.
"Yes, ma'am," Thomas said with a nod.
"Perfect. I want you to look down at the parking lot where Nigel said he heard a noise." She pointed downward as the bowl-haired boy obeyed him. "Do you see anything irregular?" Emma asked.
"Hold on." Thomas squinted at the parking lot as his vision drew closer to the ground. As he looked closer, he quickly took notice that the pebbles on the asphalt were slowly beginning to shake and jump. With wide eyes and a gasp, Thomas looked back up at Emma and said, "There's pebbles on the ground of the parking lot! They're beginning to shake and bounce!"
The other freshmen gasped and began mumbling to one another. Cody and Milo could only look at each other.
"Then, that means..." Emma whispered to herself as she looked down.
Suddenly, Nigel put his hands on his head and shouted, "AH! It's getting closer!"
At the parking lot, the people there felt the ground beneath their feet shake as they were about to leave or enter their cars. With yelps and gasps of surprise, they all looked around, fearing the worst and wondering which spot in the parking lot the source of the rumbling would emerge from. Before anyone could do anything, a man and his three children looked down to find a long crack in the road. As the crack grew larger, he frantically ushered his kids into the car one by one before he entered himself. But before he could start the engine, the ground behind his vehicle exploded as he heard his children fearfully scream in the back.
As more people fled from the chaos happening in the parking lot, the source of the rumbling quickly emerged from the now-damaged road. It was a worm-shaped monster that appeared to have no eyes on its face. Its head had a round mouth with sharp teeth that spun fast enough to shred anything into pieces. Once its head was out of the ground, it let out an ear-piercing screech that cracked many car windows. The worm's shrill sound was even heard from the top of Hawk Tower, causing the freshmen to clamor to one another.
"Everyone, stay calm! Don't be alarmed!" Mr. Kim said with both his hands up.
"Don't be alarmed?!" Autumn repeated, pointing at the ground below the tower. "There's a Worm Eldritch down there, and you expect us to stay calm?!"
"There's more than one!" Nigel shrieked as he curled into a ball and covered his ears.
"Are you serious?!" Autumn exclaimed, turning to look at the bespectacled boy.
"How many more?" Emma asked.
"There... there's one--no--two more!"
That put everyone in a state of panic. Below the tower, many people ran away as two more Worm Eldritch rose from the cement next to the building's entrance. Security guards guided any citizen they could find into the tower's lobby. When one of the worm-like monsters lunged at the entrance, the guards quickly closed the doors, denying the beast access inside. Meanwhile, the third Worm Eldritch looked up at the top of the tower and spotted the students on top. With a short screech, the Worm began climbing the tower, moving faster than a snake.
"Uh, guys? One of the Worms of coming toward us!" Thomas yelled, his eyes wide with fear.
"What should we do?" Cody asked.
"Isn't it obvious? We need to get off this tower!" Milo shouted.
Cody suddenly felt his phone vibrate in his rear pants pocket, so he reached into it to respond. Looking at the screen, he saw Scott's contact once again and immediately answered the call and placed his phone next to his right ear. "Scott!"
"Cody, there's an army of Worm Eldritch attacking several areas in the city!" Scott yelled frantically.
"I know! My class and I spotted three of them!" Cody replied.
"Three of them in your area? Cody, where are you right now?" he asked with concern.
"My class and I are at Hawk Tower! That's where the Worms are!"
"Are you currently at the top?"
"Yes!" Cody nodded.
"Oh, god! Get out of there now! It's too dangerous for you and your class!" Scott said. "Once you reach the bottom, stay inside until the Worms are taken care of!"
"Okay!" With that, Cody hung up and turned back to his panicky classmates. Then, he turned to Emma and said, "Chandler, we need to get everyone off the tower now!"
Emma nodded in response before she turned to the other freshmen and shouted, "Okay, listen up!" With that, she got the students' attention. "Here's what's gonna happen: we are going down this tower in a single-file line until we reach the bottom, and we're doing it without stopping! Are we clear?"
The freshmen nodded, some of them saying, "Yes, ma'am."
"Good. Now, get going! Follow your teacher!"
"Let's go, kids!" Mr. Kim guided the students to the stairs, watching them climb down one by one.
Before he could follow the other freshmen, Cody looked out in the distance, hoping for Scott and his team to arrive at Hawk Tower soon. Then, he turned back to his peers and walked down the stairs with haste.
~~~~~
Scott put his phone away as he sat quietly in his seat. He was currently in a van carrying nine other Slayers, one of them being Evan, who was sitting beside him on his left. As he sat, Scott slowly turned to his right to look at four senior Slayers-in-training: Lucien Nanami and his squad members, Lynn Parker, Tilly Aldine, and Pearl Rockwell. At the sight of their leader, all he could do was glare at him as Lucien looked at him with his one exposed eye and did the same.